The current arc of GREEN LANTERN has been pretty crazy. Black Hand has the power of the Source Wall and is turning everything into the material the Source Wall is made of, including whole planets. Hal Jordan is still a renegade from the Green Lantern Corps as well. Writer Robert Venditti talked to us over the phone about this series and where it is headed to next, including the newest threat to Hal Jordan's life.
Warning: This interview contains spoilers for the events of GREEN LANTERN #46.
COMIC VINE: The final pages reveal what looks like to be Sonar. How is he involved in the next arc?
ROBERT VENDITTI: He's [Sonar] at the end of GREEN LANTERN #46. Hal has been through a lot in terms of a huge, large-scale threat throughout the universe. Now with the situation with Black Hand resolved, he's now going to turn his sights to Earth because he left Simon Baz in charge to look out for his family since Hal was no longer going to be able to patrol Sector 2814. With the Green Lantern Corps gone and Baz still there, Hal is going back to Earth to check in on his family, and while he's on Earth, we'll see the reappearance the a classic, Green Lantern villain who we've really reimagined which stays true to the concept of who he was.
CV: We haven't seen Sonar in quite some time. What's changed about this villain?
VENDITTI: As I was going back and reading some Green Lantern stuff and boning up on it, when I took over the job. He was a character whose core concept I felt was really relevant. He's basically a guy from an Eastern block country, that's pretty small. In the modern political sphere, they think they should be their own country and the United Nations and world governing bodies disagree. I think the concept is pretty relevant to what's happening in the world now. It's a story I've wanted to tell for a really long time and the mechanics were getting Hal back to Earth and finding a good spot for it. This is something I've thinking about for a while. He's going to be a sound-based villain, but there's no more tuning fork gun, unfortunately. His power will still be sound-based, but have a technological bent to it and it will actually going to make him quite formidable.
CV: This book has spent a lot of time, in space, with these big stories. Do you find it tough, switching gears to head back to Earth?
VENDITTI: When we get into the story, you'll see it's not a small story at all. It's not taking place among the stars, but it's still a pretty huge threat for Hal. The effects of this story, which have to deal with Sonar, are going to have some pretty big implications afterward. There is going to be a pretty significant cosmic threat, in the background, which leads up to issue #50.
CV: Is it safe to say that the team of Hal, Virgo, and Trapper is something that will continue in this series?
VENDITTI: They're characters that are going to come back. Hal is going to Earth and he's trying to be low-profile and trying not to get noticed too much, so having a spaceship with a couple aliens following him around... He's going to separate from them for a little bit but they are going to be encountering things while they're apart that we're going to see come back in 50, which all leads to a big confrontation with the Grey Agents, which we've been seeing, a new organization that sees the vacuum of the Green Lantern Corps being gone and wants to fill that void and become that new police force for not altruistic reasons. We'll see all that come together after issue 50.
CV: Is the source Wall fixed?
VENDITTI: [laughs] For now, it is fixed. We're done with the Source Wall for the time being. I believe you'll see some hints of that as well in other Green Lantern-related books.
CV: Relic helps Hal "fix" Black Hand's problem, but Relic has unfinished business. Will he be returning anytime soon?
VENDITTI: They're definitely going to cross paths again. It won't be in the immediate future. He's a character that Billy Tan and I created for the series. There's a lot of things about him that we have left to explore. As far as the immediate future, we won't see him and Hal run into each other.
Thanks to Robert Venditti for talking to us and make sure to check out GREEN LANTERN #46, available now.